Hotel association stresses professionalism<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): What would happen if no more tourists visited
\nBali? Imagine all the jobless Balinese.<\/p>\n
This could actually happen if the country's leading tourist
\ndestination is taken for granted, says the chairman of the
\nIndonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association, Pontjo Nugro Susilo
\nSutowo.<\/p>\n
"We always have to learn, even though we feel that we have
\nalready mastered certain skills or knowledge," said Pontjo, the
\nman who raced against time to revamp the old Jakarta Convention
\nCenter in seven months to be ready for the 10th Non-Aligned
\nMovement summit.<\/p>\n
The constant upgrading of skills, says the owner of PT
\nIndobuildco which runs the 20-year-old Jakarta Hilton
\nInternational, is the key in the increasingly tight competition
\nin the hotel business.<\/p>\n
Indonesians are not far behind in the quality of services in
\nthe tourist industry, but there is much room for improvement, he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Take for instance services for VIPs.<\/p>\n
"We never encountered requests for diet and non-cholesterol
\nfood from foreign visitors before. It has only cropped up in the
\nlast few years," he told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Pontjo, 46, is the fourth of six children of Ibnu Sutowo,
\nformer president of state-owned petroleum company Pertamina.<\/p>\n
Born in the South Sumatra capital city of Palembang, Pontjo
\nwas only 20 years old in 1970 when he set up PT Adiguna Shipyard.<\/p>\n
This was the firm which boosted the family business started by
\nIbnu, the Nugra Santana Group.<\/p>\n
Oblivious to the public scrutiny of well-connected
\nentrepreneurs such as a son of Ibnu Sutowo, Pontjo, with an
\nincreasing business sense, expanded the group to include
\nconstruction, banking, insurance, off-shore drilling,
\nagribusiness and pearling.<\/p>\n
In the hotel business, Pontjo went on to point out the vital
\nneed of innovations to attract more visitors to the country.<\/p>\n
"We always have to be able to serve visitors with new and
\nalluring attractions," he said, citing the country's richness in
\ntraditional arts and culture.<\/p>\n
He said Indonesia also has to consider new facilities and
\namenities for hotel and tourist services.<\/p>\n
Tourism contributes a significant amount of foreign exchange
\nto the country's coffers. Last year, it earned the country US$5.2
\nbillion from 4.3 million foreign visitors.<\/p>\n
Meetings<\/p>\n
Of the total foreign exchange Indonesia earned from foreign
\ntourists last year, 30 percent was from people who came here for
\nmeetings, incentives, conventions and exhibition purposes.<\/p>\n
This was after Pontjo and his staff virtually turned around
\nthe entrance of the Jakarta Convention Center to face the Senayan
\nParking Lot.<\/p>\n
The center, which attracts most of Jakarta's convention and
\nexhibition business, now accommodates 7,000 people compared to
\nthe original capacity of 3,500.<\/p>\n
The marble-floored tunnel connecting the center to the Hilton
\nHotel proved convenient for participants of the Non-Aligned
\nMovement summit in 1992 when fleeing from reporters.<\/p>\n
Now Jakarta has enough venues for such international
\nfunctions, but still, Pontjo says, there are hurdles to overcome.<\/p>\n
"The major handicap is the price of our infrastructure. Costs
\nfor electricity, telephone connections and transportation are
\nrelatively higher than those of our close and serious competitor,
\nSingapore," he said.<\/p>\n
Pontjo added that other reason for higher service fees here is
\nthe large number of payments and levies that Jakarta hotels and
\ntourist sites have to bear.<\/p>\n
Besides regular fees like security services, advertisements,
\nand taxes on food and beverages, there are incidental
\ncontributions like funding sports events. Apart from that, other
\nfacilities in hotels such as karaoke lounges, fitness centers and
\nrestaurants are subject to separate taxes.<\/p>\n
Local and central governments should reconsider the necessity
\nof burdening hotels with so many fees, Pontjo added.<\/p>\n
Accommodating more international flights connecting the
\nworld's cities is also a must to boost the hotel and tourist
\nindustry, said Pontjo.<\/p>\n
"The Soekarno-Hatta International Airport is visited by only
\n36 international airlines per day, while Singapore's Changi
\nAirport caters to about 70 airlines daily," he said.<\/p>\n
He cited the figure of visiting foreigners to Singapore and
\ncompared them to those visiting Indonesia and Jakarta. Six
\nmillion foreigners visited the neighboring country last year,
\nwhile out of the only 4.3 million that visited Indonesia, two
\nmillion visited Jakarta. (imn\/yan)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/hotel-association-stresses-professionalism-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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